Laced boots such as snowboard boots, inline skate boots, hiking boots, mountain-climbing boots, etc. are laced by a boot lace threaded through several deflection elements such as, e.g., eyelets on two opposite tabs of the boot and the ends of the boot lace are fixed either by a lacing or by a holding and/or clamping device. Such a laced boot is known from EP 0 474 708 B1, WO 99/09850 A1 and DE 298 14 659 U1.
Most laced boots and in particular snowboard boots are made of flexible material, which provides comfort and also allows a relatively great mobility of the user's foot which is especially desirable in the case of snowboarding. On the other hand, the connection between foot, boot and snowboard must be so firm that the rider can transfer the necessary forces onto the snowboard, especially onto its front and back edges. In order to achieve this, it would actually be necessary to made the boot upper relatively stiff for movements to the front and to the rear, relative to the longitudinal direction of the boot; however, this would limit the comfort, especially when walking.
Another requirement for a good seat of the boot and therewith a good transfer of force during snowboarding onto the front edge is a good heel hold of the foot in the boot. In other words, in particular the heel area of the foot should also rest on the inner side of the sole of the boot when the rider bends his ankle joint forward in order to transfer forces onto the front edge of the snowboard.
EP 0 705 544 B1 suggests to this end that a tightening strap with low expandability in the longitudinal direction be provided for lacing that runs from the instep area of the boot to the heel area and thus presses the heel down and to the rear. In addition, another tightening strap is provided that runs from the front area of the foot around the upper of the boot and thus supports the flexible upper from bending to the rear.
Similar tightening straps are also known from FR 49631, EP 0 646 334 A1, EP 0 057 170 A2, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,660,812 A, 5,408,761 A, 5,499,461 A and 459,616 A.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,671 A shows a laced boot comprising a circumferential cable in addition to the traditional lacing which cable runs from the metatarsal area of the foot through the boot sole and from there on both sides around the boot upper. This cable forms loops in the instep area at which it can be tightened.
However, such additional tightening straps necessitate a greater industrial expense and have the disadvantage in practice that the user, in order to have a good hold, tightens so strongly that the circulation in the foot is adversely affected. This also has an adverse effect on the comfort and increases the danger of an accident. Moreover, in addition to the tightening of the laces one or several tightening straps must also be tightened in further work steps.
EP 0 746 214 B1 shows a low shoe with a shoelace that runs starting from the sole area over the upper part of the shoe and also has a section that runs from the sole area around the heel area and has a section running from the heel area approximately horizontally to the instep area. Finally, a section is also provided that runs from the instep area to the heel area near the sole so that the three cited sections form a triangle when viewed from the side in which, however, the upper, substantially horizontal section is located beneath the ankle of the foot and thus beneath the ankle joints of the foot. Such a lacing is therefore not suitable for a boot with an upper surrounding part of the shinbone of the user.